Railways UK 2002-Southampton Central Variety with ex British Rail CIG, CEP EMUs, 47, 60, 158 & 442s

A vid from April 2002 now at Southampton Central. Although in the privitisation era most of the rolling stock was still ex British Rail, only the Virgin Cross-Country class 221 being new. A nice bit of variety with SR slam door CEP & CIG EMUs as well as a few 442 Wessex Electrics. A freight working with a class 60 (looks like it could be a gypsum train), a class 158 on a Wessex Trains Cardiff-Portsmouth working, a Connex slammer and a 47 return the charter stock that the person who took this vid was on. These shots come from some old DVDs passed to me by a railway friend, from an ex driver who produced a few gems which i will upload over time. They were filmed on mini video tapes and transfered to DVD (& now MP4) so the quality varies. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@CityWhisperer]

The Voyager really looked modern at the time. And it aged pretty well!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I think they are more comfortable than a rancid IEP.....

[@annescholey6546]

Funny how long serving EMUs are history now. Did we take them for granted?

[@Keithbarber]

Yes, and now we miss them

[@lamborghinihexagons5502]

such a shame I wasn’t around at the time of slam door trains, I wish I could ride a CEP or BEP they look pretty comfy

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They were! And good, solid trains to ride on......

[@EM-yk1dw]

Lovely slam doors thanks Soi. The Buddleia era is starting to set in!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, Railtrack wern't actually interested in the working railway, only property they could rent out. No wonder it all ended in tears for them.....

[@EM-yk1dw]

Soi Buakhao Yes and all Network Rail are good at is allowing Buddliea to grow everywhere

[@AndreiTupolev]

So you've got a new source of materiel as well as your own back catalogue then. Excellent!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, it all helps. I may have access to some more from a friend who passed away this year (we used to go out film together on occasions), if the family let me have it rather than binning it!

[@theimperialist2686]

Great video as always mate, enjoyed watching them.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure....plenty more to come.....

[@zebedep]

Great video! Cheers.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure....

[@jasonroberts2530]

Another great video thanks. Would that Connex unit have been loaned / hired to SWT or did they operate services from Southampton?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

No, Connex ran a service along the south coast from Southampton to Portsmouth and beyond.

[@Cactus732]

Southern run a Victoria to Portsmouth/Southampton via Gatwick Airport and Horsham so I assume it’s the forerunner to that service

[@AndreiTupolev]

Victoria - Southampton (as Southern do now), extended to Bournemouth for a while

[@jamesfrench7299]

Good vision of various trains entering and leaving the tunnel with traffic grind on top. Does it go a long way? Unusual portal design.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It's not too long, 528 yards......

[@jamesfrench7299]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus That's about 1/2 a Kilometre. I've always been fascinated with railway tunnels. We have one near where I live that's a mile long and used a million bricks in it's construction when it was built in 1886. If you have anymore tunnel shots in your files I'd like to take a look.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@jamesfrench7299 I'll see what i can do......that's a lot of bricks in your local tunnel, although i dare say there are few in the Uk with similar numbers.....

[@jamesfrench7299]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I got it wrong by a factor of 10. 10 million bricks! January 1888 it was completed. Our shortest tunnel is 43 yards built in 1887. Not enough bricks to build an outhouse!

[@gibbo9089]

Good assortment of traction shown there. Seems like only yesterday. Was that before they lowered the track in the tunnel and remodeled the approach. Was the res 47 and coaches the ones that went to the docks to collect or drop off people going on the big boats in the docks?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

No, the 47 was bringing in the stock of a railtour that arrived earlier......the person who filmed this was on board. It started somewhere around the Chester area i believe....

[@Keithbarber]

442 lovely emu Oddly enough, I enjoyed sitting in "the snug" lounge area in the buffet car on these units, as I could stretch out and the fact it was low backed seating was not bad Travelled london Weymouth on them once but normally on the king alfred running day each 1st jan Winchester and back

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They are nice, comfortable stock....and happily still running!

[@Keithbarber]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Portsmouth duties now I think? Sadly "the snug" was ripped out and replaced by first class seating upon deployment to Gatwick Express, but a small loss

[@neilcrawford8303]

Just twelve months since your comment and they have been scrapped and are consigned to the history books.

[@Keithbarber]

@@neilcrawford8303 at the time of making that comment I wasn't to know their demise was on the horizon I could only go on what information was available at that moment in time 🙄

[@neilcrawford8303]

@@Keithbarber I was thinking of Soi's comment. We were all convinced a year ago that some of the 442s had plenty of years yet to run after the re-traction and refurbishment programme. A year later and they're all gone. I was certainly looking forward to taking another ride on them. Still, it's a First franchise, so nothing they do should surprise us.

[@besnikzogaj9887]

あれあれ、なんだあれは？Bother, what is that?

[@jamesfrench7299]

Same could be said of your post.